Grupo Modelo is a large brewery in Mexico owned by Belgian-Brazilian company Anheuser-Busch InBev. It has 63% of the Mexican beer market,[1] and exports beer to most countries of the world. Its export brands include Corona, Modelo, and Pacífico.[2] Grupo Modelo also brews brands intended solely for the domestic Mexican market, Estrella (a local beer found only in western Mexico); and León and Montejo (originally local to Yucatán but now available nationwide). Grupo Modelo has exclusive rights in Mexico for the import and distribution of beer produced by Anheuser-Busch.[2] Until the 1960s, Grupo Modelo used red poppy flowers in its advertising, where almost any image it used had poppy flowers somewhere in the image.

On June 12, 2008, The Wall Street Journal stated that Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owned a non-controlling 50% stake in the company, may attempt to acquire the remaining 50%.[3] On June 29, 2012, it was announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev would acquire the remaining 50% stake for an all cash price of $20.1 billion.[4] On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Justice Department filed an anti-trust suit in an attempt to prevent the buyout. The matter was settled and the two companies merged in June 2013, with the transfer of all United States rights to Constellation Brands. As a result all of the company's brands are made (in Mexico) by an unrelated company. The company no longer is allowed to export to the United States.

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María Asunción Aramburuzabala, known as Mariasun, is Mexico's second wealthiest woman and inherited her stake in Grupo Modelo (Forbes) On February 26, 2005, she married Tony Garza, United States ambassador to Mexico, in a small religious ceremony in Mexico City. On April 23, they had the civil ceremony near Valle de Bravo, west of Mexico City. U.S. First Lady Laura Bush attended. An estimated one-third of the guests were from Texas. The couple divorced in May 2010.

Grupo Modelo, founded in 1925, is the leader in Mexico in beer production, distribution and marketing, with 63.0% of the total (domestic and export) market share, as of December 31, 2008. It has seven brewing plants in Mexico, with a total annual installed capacity of 60 million hectoliters. It is the importer of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s products in Mexico, including Budweiser, Bud Light and O’Doul’s. It also imports the Chinese Tsingtao brand and the Danish beer Carlsberg. Through a partnership with Nestlé Waters, it produces and distributes in Mexico the bottled water brands Sta. María and Nestlé Pureza Vital, among others.

The main Corona brand is Corona Extra, a 4.5% alcohol by volumepale lager. It is the top selling beer from Mexico and is one of the top five selling beers worldwide.[5] Available in over 150 countries, it is also Mexico's leading export brand. It was first brewed in 1925 by Cervecería Modelo on the tenth anniversary of the brewery. In 1926 the brewery decided to package the beer in clear glass quarter bottles. In 1997, Corona Extra became the top-selling imported beer in the United States, surpassing Heineken.[6]

Corona Extra is available in a variety of bottled presentations, ranging from the 250 ml (8.5 U.S. fl oz; 8.8 imp fl oz) ampolleta (labeled Coronita and just referred as the cuartito) up to the 940 ml (31.8 U.S. fl oz; 33.1 imp fl oz) Corona Familiar (known as the Familiar or Litro or caguama). Corona Mega is now available in a 1.2 liter bottle. A draught version also exists, as does canned Corona in some markets.

Unlike many beers, Corona is bottled in a clear bottle, increasing the opportunity for spoilage. Exposure to sunlight or light from fluorescent bulbs such as those used in refrigerated display cases significantly damages the taste of beer, yielding a taste that is often described as "skunky". This is the result of the essential hop oils spoiling due to UV exposure.[7][8]

The second Corona brand is Corona Light, the first light beer produced by this brewer. Corona Light has 4.1% alcohol by volume, 99 calories (0.41 kJ), per 355 ml (12.0 U.S. fl oz; 12.5 imp fl oz) bottle.[9]

Pacífico is a 4.5% abv pale lager originally brewed in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. The name means Pacific. The picture on the bottle is the city's lighthouse, for which it is famous, surrounded by a ring buoy. A light variety was launched in 2008.

Negra Modelo is a 5.4% abv Vienna lager[11] first brewed in Mexico by Austrianimmigrants, and was introduced as a draft beer in 1926.[12][13] Negra Modelo comes in an unusually shaped, wide brown bottle with a trademark gold label. The full name of the beer is Cerveza Negra Modelo. The word "modelo" means "model" or "example" in Spanish. "Negra" means "black" or "dark" and modifies "cerveza."

Estrella ("star" in Spanish) is a pilsener beer produced in the Guadalajara Modelo plant and can be found in all of Mexico. Estrella was first produced in the late 19th Century by Cervecería Estrella (currently known as Cervecería Modelo de Guadalajara), that Grupo Modelo acquired in 1954.

León is a Munich-type dark amber-colored beer, that mixes a sweetness with light bitterness, and a white foam. The León brand was first launched into the market in the early 1900s, its origin is traced back to the southeast region of Mexico, over the years it has become popular throughout the country.